Another Day
by Admiral Godunov
Summary: Another day, another world. Full of normal people living normal lives and wait... did that boy just turn into a SHEEP? Tsubasa x Furuba crossover. For the lulz.


_Another day, another world._

The air gave a familiar twist, the sky warping and bending until it looked like one big, gooey drop of sky was dripping from somewhere above the world. It touched down, and the magic barrier disintegrated, hiding the other cloud of magic that had appeared beneath them.

"Argh get off of me!" A young male voice sounded - one that belonged to none of the travelers, and they all looked amongst each other until Sakura squeaked and some sort of small creature wriggled out from beneath her. Fai and Kurogane both started and moved as something_ else _appeared between them, and in a flash two small creatures, no, _animals _were running a few steps out. The smaller one, a sheep, or rather a _ram _if the small, pathetic growths coming from his head counted as horns told them anything, did a rather neat hop-spin in midair and faced them, glaring them all down with chocolate brown eyes. The other, what appeared to be a young, and very frightened tiger, made a single bound over the ram and turned, tucking its tail around its feet, laying its ears back and cowering.

It was the most amusing sight, a _tiger _cowering behind a _sheep._

"Who the heck do you think you are and where the _heck _did you just come from?" The sheep growled at them all.

Insert comical exchange of glances here.

"We're travelers... from another world," Syaoran stated, trying not to gawk at the talking sheep.

"Oh yeah, real likely," the sheep grumbled, rolling its eyes. "Normal people don't just drop out of the sky!"

"And normal sheep don't start talking to people," Kurogane shot in retort.

"Good thing I'm not a 'normal' sheep," It retorted, leaning its head back and staring down its muzzle at the ninja. "Cuz if what just happened is any indication, you're all the freaks here."

The large, dark-haired man growled and stepped forward.

"Oh yeah, you just try to hit me, old man. I'll have you put away for a_ long _time-"

And for the first time, the tiger spoke. "Hiro-chan!" And its voice was soft, female, wispy and shy and fragile and it almost immediately brought out everyone's protective streaks.

The ram stiffened immediately, looking thoroughly surprised, as though he'd forgotten his companion was there.

Kurogane continued walking forward. "And what do you think a little sheep like you could do, huh?" He reached down to pick the sheep up, and was surprised when it not only sidestepped his grab, but bit him on the wrist. "Ouch!" And then he roared. "You stupid little wool sweater! I'll make mutton out of you yet!" A lunge, and he missed, looking up only to see the ram standing on his hind legs, head tilted at an angle.

The next thing Kurogane knew, he was seeing stars, and his head was positively _throbbing. _He snarled, trying to clear his head, and when he did, he found the ram staring at him in the most irritatingly arrogant way. "I'm going to enjoy having lambchop for dinner tonight..." He stated, voice dark and angry, and lunged again, only to have the sheep bounce straight into the air, over his arm. It landed with its rear facing him, planting its front feet.

And then it kicked him in the face, leaving a pair of cleft-hoof shaped imprints in his skin that would take a week to fully heal.

The ram took off then, bolting across the field, but not before turning to his tigress companion as he ran, yelling a "Kisa! Run!" at her as he dove past.

"Hiro-chan wait!" the tigress cried, her tail twitching, pawing at the ground as though debating following him. "Hiro-chan!" Her head whipped back and forth between the fleeing form of the ram and the group, her sides heaving in panicked, labored breathing. "Hiro-chan don't run away again!"

Syaoran knew animals, had seen thousands of them in his life time, but he'd never before seen a relatively grown one trip over its own feet and eat dirt quite the way the young ram did then.

The tigress looked at the group, finally turning to face them, tail tucked neatly between its legs, ears laid flat backward, head turned down. "I- I'm sorry, I-I-I don't know what's wrong with him. He's... he's not usually like this."

Then again, Syaoran had never seen a tigress talk before, let alone stutter and stumble over words the way this one did.

"Kisa, what are you doing?" The ram exclaimed, trotting up to a short distance behind the tiger. "We can't stick around these people! They've already seen us like this!"

"But... but what if we change back to being human right here in front of them Hiro-chan? We... we," and if the group didn't know any better, they might have said the tigress was blushing. "We won't be wearing anything! And if we're running away we'll be even further from our clothes!"

Ohhh.

Oh wait.

Both of the human teenagers turned bright pink, Fai laughed, and Kurogane stopped cursing for close to a whole second.

Syaoran was the first to regain the ability to say anything, ignoring Kurogane's growls and snarls and curses, he stepped forward and knelt before the young tigress, making himself as small and nonthreatening as possible. "Is there any way to keep you from turning back right here in front of the world?"

The tiger watched him, and he noted it had a very brilliant pair of golden eyes, before nodding. "Ah... y-yes. We... w-... well, that is to say... we hav-" And it looked away, once again acting as though it were blushing.

"A hug," the ram interrupted, biting out the words harshly. "We have to be in close bodily contact with someone of the opposite gender."

Oh.

Syaoran tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks. "And you won't transform back and..." he cleared his throat. "Be indecent?"

The tigress nodded, summoning up enough courage to return her gaze back to his face. She stepped forward, stretching up enough that she was almost as tall as he was kneeling down. "So... w-... will you please help us?"

The teenaged boy nodded, smiling, reaching out and petting the tiger on the head. He was surprised when she leaned into it, and, as though remembering something, withdrew his hand quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're not a pet, I shouldn't do that."

The tigress' tail twitched. "N-no, that's alright." And it tilted its head at him, its lips pulling up into something of a smile. "I don't mind."

A movement caught Syaoran's eye and he looked over, only to find himself on the receiving end of a _vicious _glare from the sheep.

_I see... _the teenager noted, observing the protectiveness evident in that glare.

But the sheep didn't have long as a pair of arms scooped it up, and he suddenly found himself against the princess' chest. He let a strange, bleating yelp as she picked up, obviously taken by surprise by the sudden motion, and squirmed a bit, uncomfortable, as she settled him into position.

"Well, shall we?" the princess asked. "We should probably get these two where they belong, and quickly, before people ask questions."

"We're already going to get some weird looks with me carrying a live tiger," Syaoran noted, slipping his arms around the tigress in question and lifting her into his grasp. Though she seemed to be the more nervous of the two, she was also, notably, much more relaxed in his grip than the sheep was in Sakura's.

"Yeah well, let's just get home," the ram growled again, laying its ears back. "Then we can try to undo the mess these _people_created."

Syaoran blinked as he felt tiny pinpricks against his arm, the young tigress' claws were unsheathing like a nervous reaction, her muscles tensing.

"Hiro-chan!" she admonished, and the ram stiffened before relaxing and staring sullenly at nothing. "Be nice."

Syaoran frowned. He was going to have to say something to the other boy about that, his temper obviously made the young tigress nervous. Unconsciously, his hand reached up, and he began scratching the side of the tiger's face; she relaxed almost immediately under the touch, and rubbed her cheek and muzzle against his fingers.

Fai picked up the clothing on the ground, and under Kisa's direction, the group found themselves at a secluded house in the middle of a relatively large property, hidden away from the rest of the residences by a forest.

Kurogane kept trying to gain eye contact with the ram and continue the fight, and Sakura pointedly kept herself in the way.

Fai just watched the whole spectacle, blue eyes twinkling in sheer_ amusement. _

The door opened, and a dark haired man looked out, blinking in obvious surprise at the motley crew arranged on his door. And then he began laughing.

"Oh dear, it looks like the two little ones got themselves in trouble again," he sighed, holding a hand against his forehead.

"Hey, who are you calling _little?_" the sheep grumbled, and the man just shook his head.

"Well, no use standing outside and talking, do bring them inside and we'll start getting this cleaned up."

The two animals were separated and given their respective clothing, the ram sent to a bathroom while the tiger was taken upstairs and put into one of the bedrooms, and the travelers were invited to have tea in a common room downstairs. A busy looking young woman bustled into the room, nearly tripping over _something _in the process, and nervously served them all tea while their host excused himself to another room for a moment.

"We don't get many visitors out here," she smiled, and for a moment it looked like no one was home in her head. "Oh! Well, there's kind of an obvious reason why."

"Because people turning into little animals is strange?" Fai responded amiably. "There's a spell on them, isn't there? That guy who owns this house has it too. But you don't."

"Wha-haa!?" The girl cried and backed up. "H-... how did you know that?"

Fai tilted his head, still smiling broadly. "Oh. I have my ways. I can sense things like that." He turned back. "And there's two more of them coming. One of them has a _really _strong spell put on them."

Right on cue, two boys stormed through the door, an orange haired one trailing angrily behind the much calmer, gray-haired one.

"I told you before, stupid cat, I'm not going to-" and the gray-topped one paused, blinking lavender eyes at the fact there were four new guests sitting at their table, and the orange-haired one ran right into his back, stumbling and nearly falling at the contact.

"Why the hell did you stop all of a suddenly!" the more irritable of the two yelled, glaring.

"There's visitors here," the other replied calmly, obviously annoyed but trying to suppress it.

"Oh, and who are they?" the orange haired one snapped.

"I'm sorry," the soft, familiar voice of the tigress sounded in the room, and a young girl rounded the corner, standing between the travelers and the two newcomers to the room. "It was kind of my fault, I asked them to bring Hiro and I back here so we wouldn't transform in the middle of the park." She twirled around on the ball of her foot, clothing and short, brownish-_orange _hair flying through the air as she did so, before bowing politely. "Thank you so much for helping us out."

"Bah, why are you thanking them? They won't remember any of this after Hatori gets here," another voice rang out, sharp and youthfully male. A fourth person joined the small group standing at the doorway to the living room, adjusting the cuffs of his long-sleeved shirt with a severely displeased look gracing his otherwise attractive face. He was a bit young to be called 'handsome' yet (Syaoran guessed he looked fourteen or fifteenish), but it was evident once the definition in his cheeks and jaw began to come out with age, he'd end up being very quite handsome.

The girl turned back and frowned at her male companion. "Hiro-chan, they helped us out!"

"Yeah brat, you might try courtesy every once in a while," the older, orange-haired boy pointed out, stepping past the rest of the group to sit at the table.

Hiro shot him a rather cocky look in return. "Uh huh, and I'm sure _you _are one to talk about _perfect_ mannerisms, you foul-tempered cat monster."

The older boy slammed his hand on the table and caused everyone to jump. "And just what is that supposed to mean, brat?!"

"Hiro, Kyo," this time it was the gray-haired one who spoke, his calm voice calling forth a rather immediate silence. "We have guests. This is no time to fight." He stepped forward and bowed politely. "How do you do? My name is Yuki Sohma."

"Oh!" the young girl who had once been a tigress exclaimed, looking thoroughly surprised at _something._ "I forgot to introduce myself back there! My name is Kisa Sohma!" She motioned to the former sheep. "This is Hiro Sohma, that's Yuki as you know, and this," another motion to the orange-haired teenager. "Is Kyo. The man who greeted us at the door is Uncle Shigure."

"Ahhh," Fai stated in response. "So everyone in the house is related."

"Well, everyone except onee-chan... er um..." Kisa blushed a bit and looked uncomfortable.

"Tohru Honda," the girl who served them tea announced cheerfully as she settled on the end of the table next to Yuki and Syaoran. "Pleased to meet you all..."

Fai nodded, and motioned to himself. "I am Fai D. Flourite." To the dark-haired ninja. "This is Kurogane." To the brunette boy. "This is Syaoran-kun." Finally to the princess. "And this is Sakura-h..." He cut himself before announcing her as a princess as he usually did, and instead opted to disguise his slip of tongue with a well timed and brilliant smile, one which made both Tohru and Kisa blush.

Hiro shot the magician a positively _acidic _look, and when he was done, looked away to find Syaoran studying him carefully. He glared at the other boy, obviously uncomfortable, and was the first to look away a moment later before seating himself next to Kisa.

Syaoran continued to study the young boy, in the way he had sometimes poured over textual information, ignoring everything else around him all the way up until he felt something prod him in the ribs, and he jumped in surprise, only to find the princess looking at him. She smiled in that gentle yet mischievous way she did sometimes when she managed to catch him focusing too hard on something, and looked at Tohru, who watched him expectantly.

"I'm sorry, I don't think he heard you," she apologized.

Tohru looked a little embarrassed, lowering her face a bit in apology. "No, no, I wasn't paying attention to the fact he wasn't paying attention."

Syaoran smiled in return, leaning his head on one hand. "It's alright, what was the question?"

"I was just curious as to how you all managed to trigger their transformation."

The brunette managed a rather awkward smile. "Well, that's kinda a long story. We travel between worlds." Tohru blinked and backed up a little, looking thoroughly surprised. "We're looking for feathers, they're white with a red heart-like symbol on them, if you've ever seen them."

"Other worlds..." the young woman whispered in awe.

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah, we've been through many, and there's still many we must go through yet."

A snort interrupted him, and he looked over to find Hiro staring at him disapprovingly. It pulled the corners of his mouth down.

"Right, we're supposed to believe you're a bunch of... what, super special god-mode people with the ability to world-hop? Yeah, because that makes sense in accordance to the laws of physics," he laughed finally, waving his hand through the air.

"Well, how else do you explain the fact we managed to drop out of the sky in the middle of an open field and right on top of you and your girlfriend?" Syaoran retorted, and watched with satisfaction as the other boy stuttered out something utterly incoherent - knowing full well it wasn't because he'd proven the other wrong, but because he'd called Kisa Hiro's girlfriend.

Kisa blushed and averted her dark brown-gold eyes, fingers curling around the hem of her shirt uncomfortably.

Footsteps approached the room, and the man Kisa had called Shigure stood with another, serious looking fellow in a doctor's jacket.

"Can we speak with the travelers in the other room please?" the one in the doctor's frock queried, and the group looked amongst each other, back, then nodded and stood, following the two men into a back room. Syaoran looked to the others in the room, finding Kyo chewing on something disinterestedly, Yuki sighing and looking into the cup of tea he held, Kisa edging closer to Hiro, a sad expression on her face as she wrapped her hands around his forearm and rested her head on his shoulder. The ram pointedly looked at no one, keeping his face unreadable, and Syaoran couldn't tell what Tohru was thinking as her back was to him.

They just wanted to talk, right? So why did everyone look like they were being sent off for the execution chamber? Fai and Kurogane seemed to pick up on the suddenly somber mood and took up their positions. Syaoran fell into step protectively close to his princess, and she gave him a weak, appreciative smile.

The room they ended in was furnished only with bookshelves lining the walls and a neat desk with a computer on top. The rest of the room was completely open, and the doctor motioned for the rest of them to sit while Shigure stepped back out to the living room, which they did, carefully. Kurogane kept a comfortable distance from the other two, Mokona, who had been hiding with the princess now sitting perfectly still in the crook of his left arm. Fai sat partially behind the two teenagers, and also just out of the way, while Syaoran stayed within arm's reach of Sakura.

"My name is Hatori Sohma," the serious-looking one stated, his voice flat and... _tired._ "And, unfortunately, as you know, my family is under something of a curse. Also unfortunately is that the head of our family would rather our secret is kept from the outside world, as people tend to react badly to things that are... different than they are."

Fai nodded, smiling, Kurogane watched the man with an expressionless face, while Syaoran mimicked his expression in his own way. Sakura was the only one who looked worried.

"So, this leads me to this unfortunate end," he said, stepping close to Syaoran. The teenager tensed as the man knelt down before him. "I'm going to have to erase your memories of us. I won't touch any of your other memories, it's just that we, and our secret, will cease to exist in your minds. I'm sorry."

Syaoran winced as the doctor's cold fingers touched his forehead - not because of the temperature of the man's skin, but rather the way his magic tingled through his forehead and made his blind eye throb. The doctor hesitated, and in that moment, his right eye flashed an image - that person whom looked exactly like him, older than he remembered, floating in a liquid chamber. The reflection's exposed eye snapped open, and he felt the amber orb lock onto his blind one as a magic surged between them. It was then the doctor's power lanced into his mind, making his eye scream in pain, only to feel the doctor's power hit what amounted to a magical mirror, then converged and reflected back into the doctor's own body.

Hatori wasn't so much rebuffed as he was _flung _away from Syaoran, skidding across the tatami and into a bookshelf with a resounding _crack. _It took him a moment to recover, but when he did he blinked, his vision bleary and fuzzy at the teenager who now stared coldly... no,_ emotionlessly_ at him, right eye closed partially as though wincing against pain. He met the teenager's gaze and felt a shiver run down his spine; it looked like two different people were watching him from the young man's eyes.

"My memories," Syaoran stated, and his voice was just as devoid of emotion as his gaze from both eyes. "Are my own." He stepped forward, then stopped, bending over, grabbing at the right side of his face with one hand. He shook his head violently, knees giving out as he fell onto his rear. Sakura was at his side in an instant.

"Syaoran-kun... what's happening with your eye this time?" She whispered, hands gently placed over his as she stayed close to him.

He shook his head, unable to speak. Inside, he felt like he was being ripped in two via that eye - one part of him he could feel being drawn to something cold and dark and _powerful, _the other toward something lighter, warmer, but at the same time almost painful.

The door clacked open and Shigure rushed into the room, Tohru hot on his heels, with Yuki, Kyo, Kisa and Hiro trailing behind, standing to watch carefully from the doorway.

"Wh-wha... what happened here?" Tohru stuttered out in horror as she looked to where Kurogane stood, now holding a sword he hadn't had earlier, the little plush toy the travelers had now sitting on his head and shifting anxiously back and forth, to Fai who carefully knelt next to Hatori, still smiling that amiable smile, to where Syaoran sat on the floor, face contorted with pain as he clutched at his right eye, Sakura holding his arm as he did so.

"Unfortunately," Fai said loud enough to be heard over the murmur of the observers and Syaoran's grunts of pain. "We are rather a special case. See, Syaoran-kun has protection placed over him from sources that I don't even know what they are. I am magically fortified and much more powerful than you are, dear doctor. Princess Sakura's memory has already been shattered and scattered to the four winds - that's what those feathers we're looking for are, and tampering any farther might end up causing some sort of disaster. The only one whose memories you could potentially alter would be Kuro-pu's, but what would be the point if you can do nothing to the other three of us?" He offered a hand to the doctor who pointedly refused it and helped himself shakily to his own feet via the bookshelf he'd been sent into. Pale and shaken, Hatori walked swiftly out of the room with Shigure hot on his trail. Fai frowned. "Oh, but he left before I could apologize for Syaoran-kun wrecking his books."

"Eh oh, don't worry about it," Tohru stated, her voice high-pitched in panic as she bustled into the room, beginning to clean up the mess caused. "I'll take care of it."

"No," and this time it was Syaoran who spoke, his voice notably warmer than it had been a moment ago as he walked unsteadily forward, Sakura close to his side in case he needed help. He knelt down next to the long-haired girl and began gathering books. "I'm the guest and I made this mess, so I should help clean it up. Besides, I hate to see books damaged. It's so unfortunate for them." And he smiled, weakly, but still genuinely, and Tohru couldn't help but smile back as he and Sakura assisted her in gathering the books back up and placing them on shelves not broken by Hatori's impact.

When all was done, a long, uncomfortable silence descended upon the room, until.

"Well this is awkward." All eyes turned to Shigure who stood behind the group of teenagers at the door, grinning.

Fai returned the smile. "Indeed."

"More tea?"

"Of course!"

And just like that, the moment was over, with Shigure and the magician ushering everyone back into the living room. Tohru disappeared into the kitchen to make more tea with Yuki accompanying her, while everyone else sat back at the table.

"Well, Hatori obviously went back to go relay the news to Akito - Akito's the head of our family by the way - I'd imagine he'd want to meet you all after hearing such interesting news," Shigure relayed as soon as everyone settled back in, smiling widely in a way that told everyone he was _plotting_ something and absolutely _not_ trying to hide it.

"Are we in trouble?" the magician asked, watching Shigure carefully through his smile.

"Probably," the owner of the house replied, looking thoroughly amused at_ something. _

"Well at least we know before something happens," Fai laughed and Kurogane growled.

"Don't sound so happy about it, mage!"

Syaoran frowned and sighed, rubbing at the outside corner of his right eye with his thumb. It didn't hurt anymore, but now that it wasn't throbbing in pain he found himself thinking about what had happened.

_Was he... _the words drifted into his mind, accompanied by the image he'd seen of the boy who looked just like himself. _Trying to protect me?_

His thoughts were derailed completely when he felt a pair of warm hands wrap around his, moving his thumb aside, and the sensation of it was replaced by something else - something warm and so _very_ soft and slightly wet, and suddenly his face exploded into heat and he turned, stuttering, to Sakura. "P... princess! Wha- what... what are you doing?!"

"She kissed you!" Mokona chirped from its perch in the middle of the table, being carefully scrutinized by Yuki and Kisa. Both looked up suddenly at the sound, and for a moment, no one said a word. And then Shigure, who had been glancing back and forth between the Sakura and Syaoran pair and the Kisa and Hiro pair burst out laughing. Fai, who had been watching the man, seemed to understand and grinned, shaking his head. Even Kurogane seemed to be trying not to smile as Syaoran began stuttering like an idiot.

Hiro seemed to get offended as he was the first to realize what was so funny and he stalked out of the room. Kisa looked after him, hurt, but didn't follow.

As the laughter died down Syaoran excused himself and followed Hiro's route. Either the younger male had gone out the back door or up the stairs, and Syaoran guessed Hiro wasn't one for locking himself into an upstairs room, so he padded out the back door, and sure enough the other young man was sitting on the edge of the porch, leaning against a support, one leg hanging lazily off the side.

The young ram barely spared him a glance, one that tried but failed to morph into a glare, before he looked back out into the backyard, crossing his arms.

"You know what they were laughing at, I hope," Hiro stated acidly, though not sounding angry at Syaoran. The other teenager sighed and seated himself on the edge of the porch, dangling both legs off the side.

"I figured it had something to do with how oddly well our relationships parallel each other," Syaoran replied, sighing softly. "Except the part where you actually have a shot at a happy ending."

Hiro cocked and eyebrow and looked at the older teenager. "Oh please, you're the one living closer to a fairy tale. You called that Sakura girl 'princess' didn't you? That didn't sound like a term of endearment, that actually sounded like a title."

Syaoran gave an awkward roll of his shoulders that wasn't quite a shrug. "Well, yes. She is a princess, but I'm not a prince or a knight. I'm just an archaeologist. A peasant at best. I'm not even from the kingdom she oversees."

"Hm. Nice excuse, got any others?" Hiro shot, still staring out into the back yard.

Syaoran stumbled over several syllables, and turned a look that bordered on angry to the younger male. "What do you mean by that?"

"Since when has social status ever meant anything in fairy tales? Ones where the princess goes running off with the handsome yet courageous peasant are a dime a dozen in this day and age," Hiro continued, finally turning to look at Syaoran, his face blank. He slipped off the deck and walked out into the yard. "But see, at least you've got some credit to your name. 'Syaoran the invincible archaeologist.'" Hiro laughed and turned away. "You missed when you all left the room, Tohru and Kisa actually said something along the lines of 'quiet, brave, and handsome' about you. See what you've got going for you?" Another bitter laugh, a shaky sigh. "Once, I fancied that I could become a brave knight in shining armor for the girl I considered my princess. But then I realized I'd never be able to make it. I've got no _shining armor, _no sword, no noble steed. What good is a knight with none of those things?"

"Apparently good enough given how much it seems like she likes you," Syaoran retorted, standing and walking over to where Hiro stood. The younger one turned around.

"Oh, but that's the least of my problems, sitting right down there near the bottom of my list, right? Just above the fact we're blood related cousins, of course that's never stopped any of the other Juunishi before us. Oh, that's right, the CURSE! _That's _the biggest of my problems right now!"

Syaoran blinked, watching as Hiro wrestled with anger and pain and other things he couldn't even begin to name as the younger boy began ranting. "You know, it's bad enough that I have to live my life shut away from the world, that I've been stuck going to an all-boys school because if I even so much as bump into a girl in a hallway I turn furry. And what kind of furry? A _sheep._ I turn into a _sheep. _I couldn't have gotten any of the _good_ animals, could I have? Not something powerful or brave like the tiger, or something big and strong like the horse. No, I got stuck with the_ sheep_ Zodiac." He jabbed his pointer finger against the side of his head. "Do you have any idea how absolutely _stupid_ sheep are?" He shook his head. "But no, it's not the _sheep_ that's the problem so much as the fact I turn _into _it whenever I'm tired or sick or I bump into a girl who's not also cursed. And that? That's _weird_ and _freaky _to _normal_ people, so my family are all a bunch of overprotective psychopaths and rarely let us make friends outside of the family itself. And don't even get me started... on..." He looked away. "Akito." A deep breath, and then he paused, glaring up suddenly at Syaoran. "And why the hell am I telling _you_any of this? You can't help me. You all are just gonna find one of those feathers your precious princess needs, and then you're going to go defy physics again and forget all about us in another world." He stalked off back for the house.

Syaoran frowned and jogged after him, long legs allowing him to close the gap quickly. "Hey, I'm not going to forget about you all. How could I? I remember all of my friends from all the many worlds we've gone to, and you're no different. _Especially..._" he trailed off, and frowned. "Because you... remind me a lot... of me."

Hiro snorted and rounded a corner, shooting a glare at the older boy. "Uh huh. You sure it's not because you're going to remember the weirdo who turned into a little sheep?" A flash of orange, a squeak, and the mismatched thud of unbalanced feet cut off Syaoran's reply as something bowled right into Hiro, slamming him against the wall with a thud. The older teen blinked, realizing the _something_ was Kisa, and he looked to his left to find Shigure, his hand outstretched, with a wry smile on his face, Fai standing on one side of him, grinning, the princess on the other staring up at him, a bit shocked.

"Oops. It slipped," the owner of the house offered by means of explanation, shrugging.

Sakura turned away from him and stepped into the hall, kneeling down near the younger two. "Are you guys alright...?"

A groan was the answer from Hiro as he leaned forward a bit, allowing Kisa to slide her hand out from behind his head, gripping her wrist as she flexed her fingers. Hiro's hand slid down his back, rubbing it, as he bent backward slightly. Of course, this motion pushed his chest up against Kisa, and he paused when he realized two things.

One, Kisa, straddling his lap, had just gone completely tense.

And two, _there was someone straddling his lap. __That someone was Kisa._

The same thought process seemed to go through her mind as well, as the two separated so violently, Sakura, caught off guard, tried to stand up and move backward quickly and all at once, and ended up tripping over her own feet and stumbling into Syaoran, who caught her in an awkward one-armed sort of embrace against his chest. Kisa, who had attempted the same feat, but without anyone to catch her, ended up landing backward on her rump and, apparently her sore wrist if the cry of pain was anything to go by, and the way she cradled her hand immediately afterward.

Hiro was there in a flash. "You alright?"

Kisa nodded, moved her hand, winced, and shook her head. "Looks like my hand took most of the impact. At least you didn't get knocked out or anything. And Hiro-chan, be nice to them. We could hear you yelling from in here."

Kurogane appeared in the doorway with a grunt, and was forced to move out of the way as Tohru bustled past him, knelt down near the two youngest Sohmas, and proceeded to freak out inquiring about their health.

"Hey," The ninja interrupted. "You know, something's bothering me. Why the heck do you call him Hiro-_chan_?"

Kisa straightened up, and turned to face the tall man, her face still flushed from the proximity of Hiro to her, and laughed. "Because he's younger than I am by a year. And we've known each other forever - it was what I always originally called him, and never really went away."

Hiro grumbled, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

Somewhere, a phone rang, and Shigure turned for it. "That must be Hatori."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees, and everything was suddenly uncomfortable. Sakura leaned closer to Syaoran, searching his face for something, anything of a reaction, finding nothing but a slight smile when he realized she was looking at him. His hand, still on her shoulder, tightened in a supportive squeeze. "It'll be alright."

The princess nodded, then felt her cheeks heat up a bit as she realized he hadn't let her go yet, and watched as the same realization seeped into his own mind. They ceased eye contact, but didn't separate.

Shigure walked back into the hallway before anything could change or get took awkward, and he looked so _very_mischievously happy about something. "Well, as I predicted, Akito wishes to speak with all of you. Better sooner than later that we go to see him, he's not a patient man."

The travelers exchanged a look, before nodding in agreement, and gathering what few things they had before following Shigure out the door.

"Hey, Syaoran-san."

The young man in question turned to who had spoken, only to find Hiro standing on the porch, a very worried Kisa holding on to his arm, her wrist now bandaged.

"Be careful around Akito. He's..." And the chocolate brown eyes narrowed angrily, staring at what must have been a painful memory more than Syaoran. "I've seen him put two people in the hospital before." He frowned as Kisa winced and clung tighter against him. "Just... be careful alright?" And he turned on his heel, stalking back into the house, Kisa still attached to his arm.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think Hii-kun liked you all," Shigure laughed as he turned back on his heel, continuing down the single trail that cut through the thick woods surrounding his house. "But don't let him scare you. Akito does have something of a temper, true, but it's rare he takes it out physically on anyone outside of the family."

The fact the older man didn't keep eye contact with anyone didn't ease them the way his words were meant to. In fact, it just made them edge a bit closer together, while Fai stayed close behind him. The trip was made mostly in silence, and the travelers soon found themselves walking through the spacious Sohma main compound, heading towards the large house in the middle.

Maids bustled to and fro in the hallway, and the travelers soon found themselves ushered quickly into a back room. Within was Hatori, sitting facing them, while in a large, circular window another, younger and smaller man lounged lazily in a yukata, staring outside. He didn't move, simply seemed to toy with the longer side bangs of his black hair thoughtfully. The four travelers settled themselves onto the ground, and silence descended on the room, occasionally punctuated by the chirping of a bird somewhere outside.

"So," the man at the window finally stated, causing everyone but Hatori to jump. His voice was soft, and surprisingly light. "Am I to understand that... _these _people managed to thwart your ability to... erase their memories?" He turned and faced everyone, cold, dark eyes looking them all over.

Hatori nodded. "Yes, Akito-sama. I was unable to pierce the youngest boy's mind with my magic, and in fact had it reflected into myself."

Akito's frown deepened. "Are you sure you're not just trying to protect them for some reason?"

"No, Akito-sama," Hatori replied.

"Prove it."

Everyone who wasn't Akito stiffened suddenly, and Hatori, sighing in defeat, stood, walking for Syaoran. The teenager's right eye throbbed once, almost as a warning, and he flinched.

"I don't see why you don't just believe the man," Fai interrupted, pausing the doctor as he kneeled before Syaoran. "Because it caused both of them an unnecessary amount of pain last time he did it, why do we need to repeat that again?"

Akito snarled. "Silence. This is my family, and my issue. I will deal with it as _I_ see fit."

"Well, Syaoran-kun is also _my _friend," Fai retorted, smiling his most plastic smile yet. "And is under _my_ care."

"And this is my home," the young man stated in return, voice low and cold now. But still... not... "Hatori, do this and let's get it over with."

"No," Syaoran stated, and his voice had gone icy again. He stared up at Akito, and the man froze, before actually backing up a step at the look on his face. "You're not going to cause pain to anyone else. We've come only to retrieve the feather from this world, and then we will leave, and you won't ever see them again." He flinched, hand grabbing at his right eye again.

"Oh! Speaking of feathers!" Mokona bounced out of Kurogane's grip and pointed farther into the hall. "There's one somewhere around here. I'm not sure where, but it's pretty close!"

Kurogane was on his feet then, grabbing Mokona. "We need to get out of here. Lead the way." The two exited the room, but Akito was too busy watching Syaoran to yell after them.

"You think you can just run away after insulting me like that?" Akito growled, though it was obvious he was... _scared._ And with that fear came a tightening of his throat, and his voice began to rise in pitch."You have _no idea _who I am, what I am, what my _family _has gone through." He lunged, aiming a viciously fast attack for Syaoran's right eye. The teenager bent out of the way with an almost unnatural speed, pivoted on his left foot, and _slammed_ a leg into Akito's stomach.

Akito recoiled, coughing violently, as Hatori jumped up and attempted to restrain the teenager. The next thing he knew, he was being thrown over Syaoran's shoulder, hitting the ground with a thud, narrowly avoiding landing on Akito in the process.

Syaoran's mind was racing. How did he dodge that... why did he attack them...

_Stop!_

He flinched as his eye throbbed again. The voice was his but it wasn't his all at once.

_Stop, Syaoran!_

It wasn't coming from him. It was his voice, but he wasn't the one saying any of it... in fact, another voice, his voice from inside himself was the one whispering for him to _continue, _to embrace the cold, powerful emptiness that he'd kept locked down somewhere inside him.

_STOP!_

And he did so with a start, realizing it was the boy in the liquid chamber who was telling him not to continue. He blinked forward, and realized he had Akito cornered, the top of the man's Yukata had fallen down and Syaoran realized there were bandages across his chest. He backed up suddenly, or rather tried to, but found Fai and Sakura both holding him steady.

"Now now, Syaoran-kun, it's not nice to hit girls," Fai said, and the teenager could hear the smile in his voice.

The door burst open, and Kurogane and Mokona stood there, the ninja holding a feather. "Alright, time to leave!"They could hear the panic out in the hallway as the maids and other servants clattered through the halls after Kurogane.

"You can't take that! It's mine!" Akito bellowed, trying in vain to pull his... or rather _her _yukata back up and hide the bindings over her breasts.

"Actually," Fai stated, ushering the teenagers out the door. "It's princess Sakura's. So technically... it is ours! Have a nice day!"

The door slammed shut and the four ran outside.

In a matter of moments they were gone.

-

A/N: XD The hardest part about this story was trying to figure out which Syaoran I should have in it. While I think the real one would've been almost better in the end, I just wanted to play with the other one's inner Clone too much. So I went with cloneboy. I started this story with the funny little scene in my head of sheep!Hiro absolutely just kicking the crap out of Kurogane. And then I realized I didn't have an ending and there were lots of things I didn't consider. So I sat, and just let it write itself, and this popped out!

This was a little bit darker/angstier/what have you than I wanted - I mostly wanted it to be mostly light and funny. Oh well. Even if I got a little bit of a chuckle I succeeded. Review if you so please.

And the standard disclaimers apply: These characters are not owned by me, but rather Takaya-sensei and CLAMP.


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